Tube and center heat exchangers commonly have a plurality of parallel flat extruded tubes coupled at each end to a header and air centers between the tubes to facilitate efficient heat transfer to the surrounding air. The headers generally comprise a header plate with tube receiving apertures and a tank secured to the plate to supply working fluid to and receive fluid from the tubes. The tubes are brazed or otherwise bonded to the plates to assure leak free joints. The tank is also assembled to the plate in a leak free manner. The U.S. Pat. No. 3,310,869 to La Porte et al reveals this type of heat exchanger. There, each header plate and tank is integrally formed of a single sheet of material curved into a flat sided cylinder and brazed or crimped along a seam. The U.S. Pat. No. 3,675,710 to Ristow shows a condenser having tubes connected to headers fabricated from sheet stock welded or brazed together. Individual partitions welded crosswise between the interior walls of the header control the fluid flow path in the condenser. The placing of the partitions determines the number of passes of fluid across the condenser core and the number of tubes in each pass.
Structural improvements in such condensers or other heat exchangers are desired to enhance the ease of manufacture and reduce the cost while maintaining or improving durability and reliability. Design goals include improved burst pressure and low tooling cost. Design flexibility is also important to allow selection of the number of passes etc. with a minimal change in the structure and the manufacturing process.